Wow!

Well it has been a couple of weeks. Sorry I didn't post a blog last week. We actually had a lot happen/completed or started. We all managed to get sick again. We also had company over last weekend. This is basically a warning that this blog is going to be a little longer than usual. Are you ready? (Update: Sorry this is even more late, trouble with the photo adding.)

Lets begin with updates on projects.

Chick-shaw:

This is now complete! Which is a good thing since we are supposed to get the chickens this coming week. James has added wheels, finished the outside and added a roof. Don't worry I will also be adding photos below. Thank goodness the weather has been fairly nice outside of a few freak days. The Chick-shaw is to big to fit into the shed! Now when the chicks are big enough and have their first feathers they will be able to move into their new home. Now the next project that we have is to winterize our remaining chicken coop so that we can winter most of them. The coop is too tall for the amount of chickens we will have, so the roof needs to be lowered and insulation added. The goal would be the coop will only be used in the winter. The chick-shaw will be their spring, summer and early fall home. Free range eggs coming to us hopefully later this summer and if the chickens make it through the winter next year as well!

Painting:

No progress has been made with painting. I am going to try to get the walls in our room cleaned this weekend. Then during the evenings, this coming week, when we are back from work we plan on taping. The goal is to have the painting done in our room by the time Easter vacation is over. We also need to take down the corner shelves between the windows because although they are nice to have they won't work in the room after it is painted. Update: Well, I did not get to cleaning the walls this weekend. I spent my wall cleaning hours making my daughter's birthday party invites(5 hours).

Butlers pantry:

Okay technically we haven't made any progress on this yet. The plan is to order the shelves this week hopefully! This, thankfully, is one of the projects that our tax return will fully cover! I am so looking forward to moving the wire shelves out of that area! Then we will have cupboards and nice shelves!

Project list:

Why I didn't think of this when my brain froze is beyond me. Anyways, we made a project list. It has all the projects we want to complete this year and how large or small it is. James also added an estimate of how much these will cost so we can start working on a budget to afford these! I am looking forward to this summer and all the changes that will be coming.

Gardening:

We have started our seedlings for the plants that need to be started very early in our climate. This was a great family project that even Grandma got in on. We used toilet paper rolls to make little pods, filled them with soil then added the seeds, more soil, then added water to the tray. Our son checks every day to see if there has been any growth even though today(Friday) it has still been less than a week since they were planted. He is always the most excited to begin the planting all the way through to harvest. Though, not much makes it to the house when he helps with harvest. Update: Since Friday when I wrote this we have had almost all the tomatoes and many others sprout(this is Tuesday).

Rock Garden:

I am so excited! James found someone selling 100 bricks for 20 dollars on Facebook! It ended up being more than 100, more like 250. They are have been well used and they are perfect for what I wanted them for. I want to build a couple herb spirals, one for food herbs and one for tea herbs! This is going in the rock garden, The plan is to then use the best bricks for pathways and maybe to frame the fire pit area. We will see after the herb spirals are finished. This means the next thing we have to do is rototill the garden once it is thawed enough and begin the layout! I can't wait to be able to start!

Deck Improvements:

This is not a huge project and some of it will have to wait until we have had the siding redone. The plan is to remove a portion of the back deck(which has started to sink in one corner anyways) and then replace the railing around and had hand rails to the stairs. Here is to praying for good weather for the next several weeks. I want to start the removal of a portion of the deck this weekend or next.

Pool/Trampoline:

Yep, a pool and trampoline! We bought a pool the day before we had the freak blizzard. We had planned on buying one last year after we moved but by then it was too late to get one in a size we were looking for. Our daughter is very excited as we will be setting it up for her birthday party (assuming good weather). This year we are planning to build a platform with stairs for trampoline and the pool. The portion of the deck level with the trampoline we used last year is the portion of deck we are removing. I am not sure what the platform will look like yet, but it will be nice to move the trampoline and the pool away from the house.

In the picture you can see the snow in the background. Turned out we should have removed it from the car the same day even though it was very late when we got home.

Laundry Room Improvements:

This is probably the smallest of the projects for this year. James is going to try to build me a table over the machines(for folding and such), plus add more storage space. This should also hide some of the utility pipes making it a much nicer space. I am also looking at getting a wall attached folding clothes rack to hang any clothes that don't go in the dryer. Hanging these over any available surface isn't really that great.

Reside the House:

This is the biggest project of the year both in cost and time. Thankfully the time part isn't on us, it will be on the company installing the siding. We are hoping to go with Hardy board or something like it. We don't get a lot of hail but the winds are very high and the vinyl siding doesn't seem to hold up very well. We have had several problems with the wind blowing sections into bubble (it could also be poor installation). We are looking into companies and will hopefully be able to get this started soon!

Well that is the projects or at least the ones we know will get done this year. We have quite a few more we would like to do, but they will have to wait, other things had to take priority.

Now I need to remember the life updates I was planning to write about. I had to stop writing to attend a virtual staff meeting and it has fried my circuits.

Ok, brain has rebooted!

Let's start with a friends wedding we attended last weekend! The kids were the ring bearer and one of the flower girls. They were so cute and looked great in their outfits! They thankfully got well enough to attend. They made it through the wedding ceremony and part of the reception. We were very proud of how well our son did, he struggles with being still. We did have to leave early as the kids were tired and their behaviour started to show that. It was so beautiful and I am so happy they were finally able to have their wedding!

This weekend we were going to meet up with friends at the mall. They were unable to make it, but we took the kids anyways. We went to the arcade in the movie theatre, then to Lowe's. The kids loved the arcade and our favourite part was going to Lowe's! We bought two house trees! The kids have dubbed them fred and fed. My son then said "Fed is best".

Meet Fred

Meet Fed

Then on Sunday, we were all spending time outside getting out the fire bowls and chairs! First fire of the year coming this weekend (since it is now Tuesday). We also decided to remove the fencing in the garden (on the side closest to the house)! We are leaving the posts for now as some of them have bird houses and I may use them for hanging baskets. We don't need any of that fencing especially it doubled up (wire and panels). It makes weeding and dealing with the grass there more difficult. We still have some sections to remove. On all the other fencing we plan on adding more fencing. Specifically, we will be putting up page wire along all the fence to keep our dog out of the pasture area. He has started digging in gopher holes and it is a pain to fill it all back in for the safety of the horses. His habit of eating and rolling in their poop is also annoying so we are going to try to keep him out unless we are headed into the pasture.

And that is you all caught up on our life to date! Talk to you all again next week sometime!